Last week was the single worst week for interest rates that I can remember (I have been doing mortgages for 10 years). As expected and stated in last week’s update – the FED’s statement on Wednesday would bring about volatility in the market and it certainly did.

Ben Bernanke and the FED maintained that they would scale back the stimulus and bond purchasing plan. The mortgage backed security and stock markets plummeted. The MBS market closed the week trading down -314 bps. When the dust had settled, 30 year fixed rates were .625% higher than they were at the end of trading on Friday.

The interest rates people have been accustomed to for the past couple years are gone and they are not coming back. I have warned about this for the past year – when the FED leaves the bond purchasing market – rates will go higher, quickly. The FED has basically kept rates lower than they should be for 2.5 years.

On the bright side – interest rates are historically still very good, but I do expect them to continue to rise.

If you can benefit from refinancing – I wouldn’t wait or spend a week shopping. Rates have been moving up so quickly that shoppers are losing a ton more in daily rate hikes than actually finding a better deal. Even if the savings are not unbelievable, this may be your last chance to lower your rate and payment for the life of your loan.